The Implication That Follows
by kireira
Summary: Waya drew a conclusion, Hikaru raised an objection, and Touya avoided the question. All in all, an accidental push in the right direction. HikaAki, AshiwaraAkira.
1. Chapter 1

**The Implication That Follows**

..

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Hikaru didn't think anything was strange, but Waya mumbled, "Figures."

"What?" he asked, settling into one of the unoccupied tables.

Waya tilted his head towards the couch at the far side of the salon. "Touya and that guy."

Hikaru took a look. Sitting on the couch were Touya and Ashiwara, happily chatting. He considered going over to say hi, but decided it wasn't necessary. "What with them?"

Waya gave him a measuring look. "...Never mind."

"Hey, what?" Hikaru frowned. He reached for the go-ke. "Nigiri?"

Waya took the other go-ke in response to the second question. "Nah. If you think everything's normal then it's better to leave it that way."

He took a handful of stones and put his hand on the go-ban, but Hikaru ignored it. "You're just making me more curious. Come on, what is it?"

Waya considered, then shrugged. "From the looks of it, they are together."

Hikaru stared. "You're kidding."

"Take a look at their position."

Hikaru looked again, and now that Waya mentioned it, he noticed the arm slung across Touya's shoulders.

He blushed a little. "Wow. Really?"

"I think so," Waya said. He looked pointedly at Hikaru's go-ke, indicating that he was waiting, but Hikaru was too busy stealing looks to notice. He sighed. "It's not that uncommon nowadays. You don't have to be so shocked."

"It's just..." Hikaru tried to find the words. "Well... it's Touya, you know?"

Waya raised an eyebrow. He readily had opinions on why it should be obvious that Touya swung that way, but Hikaru wasn't likely to appreciate them. "Yeah, he is still Touya. I still don't like him, and you are still his rival. Don't tell me you're homophobic?"

"I'm not," Hikaru hastened to say. He was still sneaking glances.

Waya shook his head. "Shindou, get over it, okay? As much as I don't like him, I don't want to cause a rift between the two of you." He placed his fist on the go-ban with emphasis. "Now come on, play."

Hikaru tore his gaze off the couple. "Yeah," he said slowly, and picked up his stones.

.

.

Once you noticed a person, suddenly he's everywhere, Hikaru thought. Then again, it might be perfectly logical that Ashiwara would be here rooting for Touya in his match against Kurata.

It was a good thing the game started soon after he came, because Hikaru found himself secretly observing Ashiwara before the battle provided a better focus. He'd been doing the same thing to Touya these past few weeks, whenever they met. Searching for any change in Touya's behaviour, lack of concentration, secretive attitude-- finding faults with him, simply put.

It wasn't that he had a problem with Touya being gay. Heck, he would have an equally hard time accepting it if Touya had gotten a _girlfriend_. He just didn't like the impact of the relationship on their rivalry.

Hikaru was sure his own focus had gone down terribly because of all these thoughts going on at the back of his mind, so didn't the fact that Touya didn't seem to defeat him much more badly than usual mean that Touya's concentration had dwindled just as much?

He scrunched his face as the present game ended with Touya's loss. It'd been a good game actually, but Touya could've seen that opening a few hands back and attacked instead of defending that corner, and...

"Good game, Akira," Ashiwara patted Touya's shoulder as he came out from the match, before turning to the other player. "Congratulations, Kurata-san."

Kurata accepted graciously, then beamed at him. "Shindou!"

Hikaru listened reluctantly to his animated talk, while glancing at Touya talking to the other pros, _including Ashiwara_, every other minute. When it looked like Touya was about to leave, he hurriedly excused himself from Kurata and called out, "Touya!"

Touya waited as he made his way through the small crowd. "Shindou," he greeted.

"You wanna go to the Go salon after this?" Hikaru asked. "To discuss this match." And perhaps drop some hints that his relationship was distracting him too much and making him lose matches.

"I'd love to, but I have a study group later," Touya replied.

That'd be the Meijin's study group, _including Ashiwara_. "Next time then," Hikaru said, a little annoyed.

"I see you can't wait to offer your criticism," Touya said. He didn't look too happy about the game either, so Hikaru figured that he'd seen his mistakes in hindsight.

"Definitely," Hikaru pounced. "I can't believe you missed the chance to salvage your left territory. Where were you looking?"

"I was careless in allowing the opening, but there wasn't a move that could--"

"_I_ saw one, you just weren't focusing properly--"

"I did too. You played a similar move our second last meeting and I've considered all possibilities--"

"Nah, you were equally distracted in that game," Hikaru huffed.

"You're the one who was distracted," Touya retorted. "I remembered you lost your match that morning and then you kept looking at me guiltily as if waiting for me to criticize it."

So he did notice? Hikaru didn't even remember that game he lost, but let Touya think so if it saved him the need of coming up with an excuse. "Then why didn't you?"

"You made so many new mistakes in _our_ game, I didn't have time to touch on those."

Hikaru opened his mouth to counter, but paused as he noticed Ashiwara coming up behind Touya.

"I'd hate to interrupt such a lively discussion," Ashiwara said with a grin. "But it's lunchtime, so would you boys like to go with all of us?"

Hikaru tried to recall a time when Ashiwara's friendly hand on Touya's shoulder didn't look to him like a silent warning to keep off.

Touya agreed to the invitation, which was why Hikaru declined.

.

.

"One more game," Hikaru said, defiance in his eyes.

Touya took a glance at the counter. "Sorry, but Ashiwara-san's waiting, so..."

Hikaru waved it off. "You can ask him to play with one of the customers in the meantime." He was tired of acting normal, of convincing himself nothing had changed, of _not_ thinking about Touya and Ashiwara. And while he was making all these efforts, Touya just happily decided to leave their game for his date?

Touya gave him a look. "That won't be nice." He put the lid on the go-ke, and stood up. "I really have to go. See you next Saturday."

"Thursday," Hikaru scowled. "We have matches, remember?"

"I remember that," Touya said, a little puzzled by the sudden hostility.

Hikaru turned away and began recreating a game. "Have a nice date."

Touya stopped.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Aren't you in a hurry? Just go," Hikaru said sullenly.

"Shindou, I _did_ apologize. Now stop with your childish tantrum already."

"Who's throwing a tantrum? I just wished you a nice date!"

"And you suppose I didn't catch the sarcasm?"

"Oh, fine! Touya, just because you have a boyfriend, it doesn't mean you can ditch our sessions, okay? There, I've said it, totally unsarcastic."

Touya stared.

So did all other pairs of eyes in the room, as Hikaru just realized.

He turned red. "I'm sorry," he said. He supposed Touya wasn't out of the closet yet.

Without a word, Touya grabbed his arm and dragged him to the back.

"I'm sorry, okay!" Hikaru hissed.

Touya dropped his arm roughly, and fixed him with a deadly glare. "There are things you cannot joke about, Shindou!"

"What joke? It's only the fact. And I would've thought you'd trust me enough to tell me about it rather than make up excuses like this one!" He was pissed off at so many levels.

"There really is a gathering at Ogata-san's--" Touya paused as he suddenly realized the issue. "You thought I was dating Ashiwara-san?'!"

He was loud enough, and the room turned to Ashiwara, who was all bewildered eyes and red cheeks.

Ichikawa began to laugh.

Hikaru honestly hadn't thought of questioning the soundness of Waya's deduction until then. "Eh. You're not?" he asked sheepishly.

"What on earth made you think that?" Touya said incredulously.

"I saw you... w-well, his arm over you and everything..." Why was it that Touya's glare could make any reasoning sound ridiculous?

"I did grow up with him," Touya grunted, which on Hikaru's ears sounded like 'none of your business'. "We are most certainly not--" he coughed, "-- romantically involved."

"...Sorry." Hikaru scratched his head. "Also, I didn't mean to imply that you're, uh, _that way_, but I'm cool with it anyway, so, yeah, whatever. Sorry."

"Forget it," Touya sighed. "And I'm really sorry for ending early today. We need to get the drinks before heading to the place, so..."

"Sure," Hikaru said, a little crestfallen.

Touya hesitated. "Do you want to come along?" he asked. "I wasn't sure if you'd be comfortable around them so I didn't ask earlier, but I'm sure Ogata-san will be glad to see you."

"I'd better not," Hikaru said. He needed more time before he could look Ashiwara in the eye again.

"All right then," Touya said.

"But um, hey, I'll still be here for the next few hours, so if you, um..."

"Okay," Touya said, "I'll come back here once I'm done. I don't plan to stay there long anyway."

"Okay."

He watched Touya leave, and let out a sigh.

"Bored already, Shindou-kun?" Ichikawa came up beside him, grinning widely. "Kiba-san here would like a shidougo game, if you please..."

.

.

It was past the opening hours when Touya re-entered the salon. Hikaru fixed a pointed look on him, every step to the table.

Touya calmly sat down across him. "Ogata-san blamed me for not bringing you along."

"He should have invited me personally."

"That's what I told him," Touya said, almost smiling.

"Akira-kun, Shindou-kun," Ichikawa called. "I'm going. Could you lock up after you're done?"

"Ah, sure, Ichikawa-san," Touya answered. "Sorry for keeping you."

"That's fine," she smiled. "Have a nice date."

The two boys stared after her.

"Uh," Hikaru said after some time. "Why didn't you say something to her?"

Touya looked embarrassed. "What could I have said? It was awkward."

"You were making such a fuss when I said it earlier," Hikaru returned.

"She wasn't out to annoy me like you were," Touya said, averting his eyes. "It's getting late. Let's play."

So _this_ he didn't mind, Hikaru thought, and he fought a sudden urge to grin.

.

..


	2. Chapter 2

_Edited 25 Jul 2013:_ to fix plot inconsistencies and grammatical problems.

_Author's Note:_ This chapter is more like a sequel to the previous one, but I put it as the second chapter because the basic premise takes heavily from the first story. In honour of **Sarasusamiga**'s request for the "what happened after" part, this one is titled simply "After" :)

* * *

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**The Implication That Follows: After**

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Shindou surely didn't believe in luck.

Ogata once asked Akira if he knew the significance of Shindou's fan, the one he started carrying after returning to the pro world. The senior pro suspected that it had something to do with the whole secret of Shindou's involvement with Sai, but Akira preferred to think of it as simply Shindou's personal _daruma_, a self-reminder of his determination to keep walking on the path of Go.

Then Ashiwara had joked that it could be a good luck charm some girl had given to Shindou. Akira thought of Fujisaki Akari for a second; the next, he joined Ogata in teasing Ashiwara who must've had that kind of experience.

They established then that Shindou was definitely not the type who would believe in luck. At least in all relevance to Go.

So Akira got that theory totally shaken when Shindou came up behind him before their matches that Thursday, tapped his left shoulder, and said to Akira's questioning stare, "For luck."

.

.

It continued, week after week, and Akira's bewildered expression never did improve, week after week. He supposed Waya found it funny, because that guy would hide his grin and whisper something to Shindou, who would answer first indignantly, and later on, doubtfully. The whole Ashiwara incident had left Akira with an unpleasant impression of Waya's opinions, which unsettled him more.

The shoulder taps progressed to shoulder squeezes, and Akira was getting really uncomfortable. He never thought much of such casual touches when it was _just_ Ashiwara doing it, as Shindou too had learned, and he wondered if Shindou simply thought it was perfectly fine to do the same.

Then again, the luck part was too obvious a lie.

"Are you trying to pull something?" he confronted Shindou finally, when they were playing that Saturday.

"Pull something?" Shindou looked at the stone he had just put down, a perfectly normal response to Akira's previous hand. "What?"

Akira glanced at that stone as well, and decided it was no threat on his territory, unlike the intended topic of their conversation. He continued his plan of attack in both aspects. "The lucky gestures before your matches. It can't be that you actually believe in those."

Shindou looked up from the board, and stared at him.

"Shindou?" he prompted, disconcerted.

"Does it bother you?" Shindou asked back uncertainly.

Why couldn't he just answer the question? Akira was getting irritated. It wasn't so much the physical contact that he minded, but that he didn't know what it meant. If it had been sincere— if familiarity was what Shindou was after, he wouldn't need to lie about it now, would he?

The truth was that Akira found himself reacting differently to Shindou's touches, and it embarrassed him, and he was almost sure Shindou knew this by now. Was Shindou making fun of him for that? Or was he still convinced that there was something going on between Akira and Ashiwara, and was _testing_...

"I wouldn't have asked if it didn't," Akira snapped. "So?"

Shindou frowned. He glanced at the Go board, ignoring Akira's demanding look, and put down his interrupted move.

"Shin—"

"If you don't like it, I'll stop doing that," Shindou said simply.

Now Akira was the one who frowned. "Don't avoid the question. There are only so many 'someday'-s I'd take from you."

"I'm not answering that question, and there's no someday to it." Shindou tilted his head to indicate the board. "Your turn now."

He trained his eyes on the Go board, refusing to look at Akira.

Akira slammed down his stone. He didn't need to think long for that; the flow of that one game, at least, was still readable.

"Fine," he gritted his teeth. "Igo it is."

Shindou's gaze snapped up to him as he said that, but Akira ignored him now. It terrified him enough to think that he was attracted to Shindou beyond Go; unless Shindou felt the same —_and even then_— it would only ruin what they had right now. It was just as well that Shindou could dismiss those touches so easily, that they didn't mean anything... that he no longer had to deal with them. The only thing he needed to exist between them was Go, nothing else.

They finished the game in tense silence. Shindou lost, but when Akira threw a challenging look at him, he merely heaved a sigh and didn't seem to mind.

.

.

"What is it with you?" Akira heard Waya's voice across the room, far from a whisper for once. Shindou had not made his lucky gesture for that day's match, as he said he wouldn't; and apparently Akira was not the only one feeling the loss.

Shindou looked irritated as he dragged Waya out of view. The other boy's protests became muffled as they disappeared behind a pillar at the corner.

They emerged when the matches began, both scowling. Akira willed his mind not to think about the topic of their secret conversation, which most certainly involved him.

He wasted no time crushing his opponent, for fear that his concentration would dwindle if the game dragged on for too long. He had just made his way out of the room when Shindou, having finished his match just as early, walked past him briskly.

Not even a greeting now, Akira thought. Not that he felt like dealing with his rival at that moment either.

Another set of brash footsteps from the door made him turn. Waya stopped two steps beside him, looking unhappy.

Akira nodded slightly by way of a greeting. His mind was already preparing the polite refusal for whatever piece of mind Waya had about Shindou and him.

"Now see here," Waya said, drawing his match schedule out of his pocket. He unfolded the piece of paper, flipped to the blank side and began scribbling. "This is how Shindou's mind works, okay?"

"Waya-san," Akira interrupted firmly. "There is no need—"

"This is five months ago," Waya pushed on, putting down 'Touya', a double-headed arrow beside it, then 'Ashiwara'. "But some time after, we knew..." He crossed out the arrow.

Akira watched, pressed by Waya's confident tone. He knew now why Shindou had trouble refusing to listen to this guy.

"And then he kind of realized..." Waya glanced at him, but Akira had only a moment to wonder what that was for, before Waya drew another arrow from 'Touya', and at the end of it he wrote 'me'.

Akira fought off a blush.

"But!" Waya overwrote the arrow with a thick dashed line, and put a big question mark beside it with much emphasis, almost making a hole in the paper. "Of course the dope could never be sure unless you spell it out to him. So just in case you'd reject him, he decided to be _subtle_." He snorted. "I tell you, for all the simpleton that he is..."

Akira looked on, baffled. Waya drew another arrow from 'me' to 'Touya', and labeled it 'hint hint'.

"Now, I've told him over and again that you too need these things spelt out to you, because, God knows, both of you can be so much alike. But he wouldn't listen to me." Waya shook his head. "So now would you mind telling me whatever had happened—" he circled the dashed arrow with the question mark, "—to make him think that this one is non-existent after all?"

"Did he tell you all this?" Akira asked, standing his ground yet. The last thing he needed was another set of questionable assumptions.

"Touya," Waya said impatiently, "_Everyone_ whose match schedule coincides with you two for just once _knows_ this."

"Appearance means nothing," Akira said stiffly. "He of all people should know that. You too, Waya-san." Geez, didn't they learn anything from the previous misunderstanding?

Waya narrowed his eyes, looking down at his chart then back at Akira. "Are you telling me you've been leading him on for no basis at all?"

For all Akira knew, Shindou was the one who'd been leading _him_ on for no basis at all. But he controlled himself and said, "This is between Shindou and me."

"Oh yeah? If you two could settle it just between yourselves, would things have turned out this way?"

Akira took a breath, before he snatched the pencil from the would-be matchmaker's fingers. He crossed out the arrow that pointed to his name forcefully, and this time he did make a hole on the paper.

"Even so, leave us be," he said, and pressed the pencil back into Waya's hand.

Akira stalked away, leaving the other boy cursing at his ruined schedule.

.

.

Akira didn't know what to expect on Saturday, but Shindou turned out as usual. He sat across Akira without saying anything, and Akira barely lifted his eyes to acknowledge his presence. They started the game just like that.

Halfway through, it became painfully obvious.

Akira gripped the edge of the table and closed his eyes. He sensed Shindou leaning back and running a hand through his hair in likewise frustration. Really, Akira would have slammed his hands on the table and yelled like the old times at this disappointing standard, if only his own moves hadn't been equally horrible.

"Do you want to start over?" he calmed himself down enough to ask.

"It wouldn't work," Shindou said, his voice heavy. He stood up. "I... we... need time to sort things out, and until then..."

He didn't finish, and the sight of his distancing back hit Akira hard with the realization that even Go might have been lost to them.

In desperation, he blurted out, "Shindou—"

Shindou turned with a speed that assured Akira his rival wanted just as badly to fix this.

"I don't mind," Akira managed, "if you want to continue with your lucky gestures."

Shindou stared at him.

"You don't have to explain it. I won't ask anymore."

It was probably a mistake demanding for everything to be definitive, and he would settle with anything that would return this to normal again.

Shindou walked back to the chair slowly, and sat down with a thud. As he lifted his eyes to Akira, however, they were almost flaming.

"What do you take it for? It's not simply up to me, now is it?"

So much for peace offerings. "What do you expect? You were the one who refused to tell me what I _should_ take it for!"

"Because I knew _this_ would happen!" Shindou slammed his hand on the Go board, scattering the unfinished game. "Oh well, it happens anyway, doesn't it. To think I took all the trouble to be considerate."

"Considerate how, exactly? You were pulling such a _tease_ with all those touches, and then you dismissed them like they were nothing!"

At Shindou's confused look, Akira sighed in resignation. "You know very well where you stand in my eyes. Would it hurt to tell me clearly where I stand in yours?"

Shindou's face changed, a look of genuine surprise.

"Where I stand...?" He looked thoughtful for a second, amused the next, and his eyes were clear when he finally said, "You really didn't get it, did you?"

Shindou's enlightened expression was enlightening in itself. "Neither did you," Akira replied, now seeing the whole picture too. It was, admittedly, perfectly drawn in Waya's chart, but no one blamed the villagers for not believing the boy who cried wolf.

"Hey, I read it right the first time," Shindou countered, "but you threw me off when you got so upset about me touching you."

"And which idiot came up with the stupid 'lucky gesture' excuse?"

"It _had_ to be stupid, otherwise how would I get you to know that there was another meaning to it?"

Akira considered this. "True enough."

"And I at least did something," Shindou said pointedly.

"You already knew," Akira defended himself.

"I _guessed_. I even waited a few more weeks to see if you would give me more signals, but you never did."

"All right, all right," Akira huffed. "Now you know, over and done with."

"Sheesh, be more appreciative," Shindou pouted. He paused before adding, "I'm not getting anything out of this, remember. You and Ashiwara-san had better be grateful."

Akira was confused at the turn of the conversation. "Ashiwara-san? What does it have to do with him?"

Shindou looked at him wearily. "You sure you want me to say it out? You are in fact dating him, right? I accidentally blew the secret in front of those people, so you gave me those suggestive signals as a decoy. Well, it _was_ my fault, so I decided to help out and acted all friendly with you, to cover up your _real_ relationship. And it was a success, wasn't it?"

Akira stared.

"Right?" Shindou asked.

Akira didn't know what to say.

"Touya?" Shindou leaned forward. "I thought you already understood everything..."

"It is not—" Akira began, but then, if Shindou really did all that not because he returned the sentiment...

He fell silent.

"Of course," Shindou said, "That's what it is not."

Akira blinked. "Huh?"

"I thought you got it already," Shindou said. "Then you'd know it wasn't true, right?"

"You," Akira accused, understanding dawning on him.

"So what is it again about where I stand?" Shindou asked, a ghost of a twitch on his lips.

"Go to hell," Akira muttered darkly.

"Just so we're clear about this, Touya. We can't afford another misunderstanding, you know." He traced the tip of his finger around a Go stone.

That insolent...

"Touya?"

Akira started to put the Go stones back into the bowls.

"Touya," Shindou called, more gently, but the newfound laughter in his voice made Akira stand up indignantly.

A pair of hands held his shoulder blades before he could move away, though, and he was turned back to face the smiling eyes, surprisingly devoid of any playfulness.

"Just so you know," Shindou said, "I like you too."

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End file.
